NFV Song Spotlight: Sarah Once Was' Thumbnail Moon

About every other Monday, The Witching Hours and Safe Travels Presents presents their Alphabet Soup music series. As can be derived from the name, each night is dedicated to an alphabet and the bands / musicians names start with that alphabet. Recently, they got to the letter S. That leaves 7 more letters to go, which will take them into early 2025. Will they re-start the whole series again come 2025? One can only hope. The series used to take place at the Resident, but as the Resident has shifted away from live bands they had to move on to Non Plus Ultra. They mentioned on Instagram that this resulted in their funding getting cut. I'm sure that will play a role in how things go in 2025. Hopefully, the music community comes out to support this labor of love music series. 

Sarah Once Was at Non Plus Ultra

Sarah Once Was (Sarah McNamara) was the headliner of the night. If you don't know about the setup of Non Plus Ultra, the venue has bay doors that open up to a courtyard where people gather to talk before, between, and after sets. The crowd was still largely outside when the band started up. The band let their music drift through those open doors, a sound that encouraged people to come on in. The music has a pleasant chill sound while McNamara's vocals are soothing. It being a pleasant night, it felt like a perfect scenario would be to have a fire pit outside, surrounded with chairs. People could listen to the music coming from the stage while meditating as eyes glanced up at the night sky. I suppose the only drawl back to this scenario is that the stars would not be visible due to the city lights and maybe it was a little hot as Los Angeles has a mild late October heatwave, but that was just my music imagination working. 

Sarah Once Was at Non Plus Ultra

An example of this mood setting music is the song "Thumbnail Moon." Was that too obvious of a set-up with the word "moon" in the title? There is a reflectiveness to the vocals that sing the poetic lyrics:

I'd let you climb into my attic
Let you comb light through my hair
Let your words make patterns
of the dust in the air

Sarah Once Was at Non Plus Ultra

The music lends an air of mystery with an Americana-country twang as the high notes are played on the guitar. The live version was about 25 seconds longer than the version on Spotify, allowing the music to pleasantly explore at the midway point with the lead guitarist taking the forefront. The moment got cheers and hollers. 

What is the thumbnail moon? Is it a reality that doesn't match up with the imagined and the decision to move on? Or the realization that the daily grind of life and the pains and joys that come with it must be lived at some point?

I could lie like this forever
But I want to live instead